February 21, 2021 - Croatia draws Group B with Serbia, Montenegro, and more top national teams at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.
After a thrilling end to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Rotterdam on Sunday, Croatia secured the final 12th spot for the Tokyo Olympics.
Recall, Croatia and Russia met in the 3rd-place match of the Olympic qualifying tournament on Sunday afternoon. A win was enough for Croatia to automatically secure a spot in Tokyo, as the top three national teams from the qualifiers advance to the Olympic Games.
Croatia finished the tournament with six victories and two defeats. Croatia won their first match against Romania at 16:6, defeated the Netherlands 25:8, topped France 10:13, lost to Russia 13:14, and beat Germany 22:8 in the final group stage match.
Croatia thus finished the group stage with eight points, four wins, and a defeat against Russia, which finished first with nine points.
In the quarterfinal match on Friday, Croatia was better than Georgia (15:6), but lost to Montenegro in the semifinal match on penalties on Saturday. In the match for 3rd place, Croatia topped Russia on penalties 25:24.
After Montenegro and Greece met in the final of the qualifiers, the national teams were drawn into two groups, in which Croatia was placed in Group B with Serbia, Australia, Spain, Kazahstan, and Montenegro.
Namely, Croatia is in the company of the World Championship finalist - Spain, the defending Olympic gold medalist and 2019 World League winner - Serbia, the bronze medalist from the last European Championship in Budapest - Montenegro, and Australia, led by Croatian coach Elvis Fatović, the silver medalist from the last FINA Cup and the strongest team outside Europe. The only weaker team in the group is the national team of Kazakhstan.
On the other hand, Group A includes South Africa, the United States, Hungary, Greece, Japan, and Italy.
The top four teams from each group move onto the quarterfinal stage of the competition.
The Olympic Games in Tokyo are scheduled from July 24 to August 8, 2021.
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